Cut-out



.(No Model.)

S. 0. O. GURRIE.

OUT-OUT.

No. 406,268. Patented July 2, 1889..

N. PETERS. Plwmmha n hu, wnmn unn. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

STANLEY C. C. CURRIE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNITED ELECTRIC IMPROVEMENT. COMPANY, OF GLOUCESTER, NEV JERSEY.

CUT-OUT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 406,268, dated July 2, 1889.

Application filed April 19, 1889. Serial No. 307,755. (No model.)-

To a wh m it y Concern: through the device by the melting of the sub- Beitknown thatI, STANLEY CHARLES CUTH- stance or material of poor electrical conduc- BERT CURRIE,a subject of the Queen of Great tivity that said wires are embedded in and Britain,butnow residing at the city of Philasupported in the vessel.

delphia, in the county of Philadelphia and The nature and characteristic features of State of Pennsylvania, have invented a cermy invention will be more fully understood tain new and Improved Automatic Electric taken in connection with the accompanying CutOut, of which the following is a specificadrawings, formingpart hereof, and in which tion. Figure l is avertical central section of the 10 The principal object of my invention is to automatic cutout device embodying the prinprovide a simple, durable, and sensitive autocipal characteristic features of my invention; matic electric cut-out for various uses and and Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, showing the purposes possessing the following character wires which lead to or from a source of elecistic features and desirable qualities: first, a tricity.

[5 device of good conducting material to afford Referring to the drawings fora further dea continuous path for the passage of a curscription of my invention, A is a block of rent of electricity; second, a device con wood, ebonite, or other preferred insulating structed and arranged so that when the elecmaterial, which constitutes the frame of the trio current becomes more intense than the device. The inversely-disposed wires or 2Q device is adjusted to carry causing the cirpieces B and B are supported in or by said cuit through the same to be automatically frame, which is provided withbinding-screws broken, and, third, to provide a device that C and C. The lower extremities of said can be readily readjusted as soon as any dewires are immersed in a fluid composed of feet in the circuit has been rectified. mercury or other preferred liquid D, of high 2 5 My invention consists of two wires or pieces electrical conductivity, contained in a bulb, of metal or other good conducting material tube, or other vessel E, made of glass or other interposed in an electric circuit and suitably preferred insulating material. Portions of supported at one of their ends by a connectthe wires B and B are embeddedin the tube,

ing device and with portions of the wires or bulb, or other vessel E, in paraffine-wax or 0 pieces embedded in an insulating substance other preferred poor conducting material, but or material of poor electrical conductivity, such as is susceptible of being melted at a but susceptible of being melted at a low temlower temperature than will melt the wires or perature, wit-l1 portions of said wires or pieces pieces of metal of good conducting material immersed in a conducting-fluid contained in B and B. The yoke G, composed of ebonite 5 a bulb, tube, or other suitable vessel. or other preferred insulating material, 0011- My invention further consists of two insists of a stretcher g, which is provided with versely-disposed wires or pieces of metal or side grooves h and h. The wires B and B, material of good conductivity supported at engaging in the grooves 7L and 7L of the yoke one of their ends by a connecting device com- G, are held to place by means of a band'of 4o posed of insulating material and portions insulating material H. A band, of rubber or 0 thereof attached to or otherwise held by an other preferred material I, is caused to cirinsulated yoke, and said Wires or pieces emcumscribe the tube, bulb, or other containingbedded in a substance or material of high 1-e vessel E. sistance, but capable of being readily melted, The action of the above-described cut-out 45 and with portions thereof immersed in a condevice depends upon the heating of the wires ducting-fluid contained in a vessel, bulb, or by the passage of an electric current larger other container, with a loop or band of insuthan they are intended to carry to a temperalating material circumscribing the vessel or ture capable of melting the insulating matebulb to permit the same to fall sufficiently rial in which they are embedded or retained 50 when the circuit is automatically broken in position, thereby effecting a change in the arrangement of the parts of the cut-out device to cause the circuit to be broken.

The mode of operation of my improved cutout device may be explained as follows: The wire constituting a circuit from a source of electricity is cut and the cut-out device interposed in the circuit by attaching the ends of the wires or pieces to the respective bindingscrews 0 and C of the connecting device A, to the terminals of which are attached wires 13 and B. The electric current passes through the binding-screw C and the wire B to the liquid D, contained in the tube orbulb E, and thence through said liquid D, the wire 13, and the binding-screw C to the wire forming the circuit. In the event of the current passing through the circuit being more intense than the cut-out device is capable of withstanding, the wires B and 13 will become heated, and the paral'iine-wax or other material F is melted in thebulb or tube sufliciently to cause the bulb and the mercury contained therein to fall by their own weight, thercbybreaking the circuit. The bulb or tube E is prevented from falling farther than is necessary to always insure the wires B and 15 being withdrawn from the conducting-liquid, by the band I surrounding the same.

It will be readily understood in the operation of my improved device that when the wire or piece of metal becomes heated up by the electric current sufficiently to cause the paraliine-wax or other similar material to melt the tube will fall, whereby the contact of the wires with the mercury or other suitable material or substance will be destroyed, and consequently the electric circuit broken; but, however, in the fall of the tube the same is checked by the insulated loop or band 1 coming in contact with the yoke G. The quantity of current in the circuit necessary to heat the wire or piece 15 or 13 sufficiently to melt the wax and destroy contact, and consequently to cause the tube to fall and the cir cuit to be broken, may be predetermined by either increasing or diminishing the .relative size of the wires or pieces 13 and ll and the size of the wire forming the circuit. It may be remarked that the paraffine-wax or other preferred insulating material susceptible of beingmelted at a lower temperature than would melt the wires not only performs the functions hereinabovc described, but also protects the conducting-liquid from being exposed to the atmosphere.

The instrument may be adjusted either by pressing the tube upward, so that the wires 13 and 13 pierce or pass through the paraliine wax or other preferred insulating material or substance susceptible ofbeing melted at a low temperature and with the wires again immersed in the mercury or other preferred conducting-lii uid, or the paraiTinc-wax or other preferred insulating material may be melted and the wires readjusted as in the first instance.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is"

1. An electric cutout device consisting of two pieces of metal interposed in a circuit and engaging with and held by an. insulated yoke and said pieces of metal embedded in an insulating substance susceptible of being melted and immersed in a conducting material in a vessel, and a band circumseribing said vessel, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. 'An electric cut-out device consistingof two wires or pieces of metal interposed in an electric circuit and supported in or by a block composed of an insulating material, and said wires or pieces of metal in engagement with an insulated yoke and embedded in. an insulating substance capable of being fused at a low temperature and immersed in. a conducting-tluid in a vessel surrounded by a band, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

A cut-out device consisting of two pieces of metal interposed in an electric circuit in engagement with a yoke, and said pieces of metal embedded in an insulating sl'lbstanee capable of being melted at a lower temperature than will melt said pieces of metal, and portions thereof innnersed in a conducting- :tluid in a vessel, and means to prevent said vessel from falling and to allow of the device being readjusted after the circuit is broken, substantially as described.

4.. The combination, with two pieces of metal interposed in a circuit and a supporting insulated yoke, of an insulating substance and a fluid contained within a vessel, and a supportiiig-yoke, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

STANLEY C. C. UURR'IE.

\Vitnesses:

GEO. W. REED, THOMAS M. SMITH. 

